In college, I had two academic loves-- history and Latin. I especially loved Latin, but I never felt like I had a natural talent for it, so I minored in it for fun. I thought of Latin like I thought of being in the university choir-- I am no amazing singer, but I'm at least capable of carrying a tune, and I enjoyed it a great deal. After I graduated, I taught history and Latin. It was the most terrible job I've ever had, but not because of the history, or the Latin, or even the teaching, for that matter. The politics of it were awful and I was terrible at classroom management. But, not being one to give up (see also: stubborn), I decided to keep going in that same direction. I moved back home to get married, and decided I would apply to grad school to get an M.A. in Latin and go back to teaching. I was even accepted by a couple of programs. But two years after I left my first and only classroom, I was still having nightmares about teaching. I was struggling through my second semester of Greek, and finally admitted to myself that maybe I needed to explore other options.
Eventually, through a truly random series of events, I decided to take an accounting course. It turns out I had found a new love. But the decision to pursue accounting as a career was not easy. It seemed like everything accounting meant for me, as a career and as an academic discipline stood in stark contrast with the study of the classics that I loved so much. I wasn't just leaving the ivory tower, I was setting it on fire and walking away to the land of Business, never to return. I felt like I was letting down all of the brilliant and kind professors I had the privilege of learning from. I felt like I was letting go of a major piece of who I was and who I had always expected I would be. I mean, tax accounting? Really???
Really.
So I left Latin and history behind. I worked full time and went to school full time, and networked, and tutored, and took and passed the CPA exam. I'm a very happy tax accountant now. I love my life, and I love my job. I don't regret for one minute that I've gone in this direction. Plus they tell you that Sewanee teaches you how to think. As far as I'm concerned, "analyze, don't summarize" should be Sewanee's second motto along with "EQB"... and tax accounting is very analytical. So in that way, it suits.
But at the same time I've finally had enough distance for long enough that I can now begin to go back home to the things that were so meaningful to me in the past. I'm not exhausted by constant schoolwork, so I can read and explore on my own terms. I can be a tax accountant who reads the Aeneid and watches historical documentaries. For fun! Because I'm a giant nerd.
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| Perfection. |
So, I decided that I was going to reread the Odyssey during my travels in Greece. And I did.
We had an entire day at sea on the leg of the trip between Venice and Corfu. I made fairly good progress in the book, getting to the point where the Phaecians bring Odysseus home to Ithaka. Poseidon, who has a grudge against Odysseus, finds out what they have done, gets angry, and turns the Phaecian ship into stone right before it gets to land.
The next day, I had one of those random joyful moments that brings tears to your eyes because you are so overwhelmed by something you can't explain. We got on the bus in Corfu and our tour guide started talking about the various places we were going to go that day-- a distillery, an orthodox monastery, a restaurant on top of a mountain with a fantastic view... and a rock in the harbor that is said to have been a ship turned to stone when returning from bringing Odysseus home to Ithaka. It turns out that Corfu is the modern name for the land of the Phaecians.
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| The one in the back. |
So yes, I cried right there on that bus. And I cried again when I saw the rock. Because there I was, halfway around the world and suddenly brought back home by a modern-day Phaecian.
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